July poll

[Computer Hope Admin]

For the month of July we thought it would be interesting to see on average how long do you wait to talk to phone support or customer service? It's almost inevitable that when you call support that you'll have to wait on hold until you'll be able to talk with a human. Also feel free to make any comments or tell us your horror stories you've had when dealing with phone support.

All past monthly polls and results can be found on the Computer Hope poll page.

[honvetops]

Cursing starts around the 3 minute level, at 5 minutes  I say I've waited this long....... around 7 minutes,  I got to the bathroom, at 10  I pickup the phone and hear the the ring-tone having been hung up  on!   

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Phone support? As in customer service? If so, I haven't done it before.

[Calum]

I haven't called them, I see no reason to do so either.
If I can't fix it myself, I email them and post on a forum for help.
Invariably, with the assistance of the forum I am able to solve it before the company replies to my email.

[honvetops]

Keep in  mind !!   " Any : customer service phone calls,  not just for computer help*

like when I tried to cancel my  AOL  subscription-  I had a very bad-time !

[Calum]

I didn't see that . . . ah well, same thing applies I guess.
I still haven't called either, I usually email if I have to get in touch with them.

[GX44]

Only ever had to call a customer support line once. Was fairly ok. Just the person on the other side didn't really know what I was talking about, but in the end the issue was resolved.

This was with ntl about a year ago. Wasn't on hold for too long. But I have heard some horror stories about their customer service.

[2k_dummy]

Only used it once to call HP about a scanner.They charged me $30 to resolve a problem that was caused by their screwed up software. Haven't bought a HP product since and likely never will. Like the old saying, "Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me."

[reaper_tbs]

i called Optus phone support, and had to wait 4 hours >.<
i got them to pay for the call lol.

[street1]

I usually wait over 15 minutes but,if the company cares

enough to have good 'Champagne Elevator Music"...

then, I can pretend I am riding up a long never-ending

escalator at a friendly mall.


Telephone support is awful.

When you listen to the options when you call,if you choose
to buy an item.....Under 30 seconds.....Every time but, goof
up and press the option for help.  Oh My God!!

[Zylstra]

I don't tend to call any support, unless I really really really have to.

I usually use an online support website, with a "Chat Now" feature.
Most of the representatives know what they are doing. I find Compaq to be more knowledgeable then Dell or Gateway...

Most online supports are connected within 5 minutes. The longest time I have ever waited for support was 45 minutes, that was Verizon, I think.

[CBMatt]

I don't normally call support lines for computer issues.  I've called Microsoft a couple of times, which went surprisingly well.  Their customer support is a lot better than I expected.  Within 10 minutes, I had already talked to a person and got my problem(s) worked out.  When I called to get a new serial for Age of Empires III, it took maybe 5 or 7 minutes.

Gateway support is awful.  They make you wait forever and then they don't want to help you with your problems.  I've still got a recalled laptop battery that they won't replace and I haven't been able to get them to send me a Windows CD.

[temporos]

I had to call Sony once for a problem regarding my hard drive.  The computer that answered the phone put me on hold after I navigated through about twenty automated menus.  I waited on hold (listening to their 60-second muzak loop) for three hours before it hung up on me.  I never got to talk to anyone. 

[Zylstra]

I remember calling Verizon once
They to had various voice menu's... which I greatly dislike.
When you end up hanging up to restart the whole session, etc, it takes forever to get back to where you were/wanted to go.

Quite frankly, I don't like talking on phones. (I hear voices whenever I do)
Computers can be nice, on some occasions, but humans can get anything done faster.

Well, what can you do?

[CBMatt]

The worst thing ever is calling AOL because they ask you to spell out your username.  I've got a fairly long account name, and I can't even get halfway through it before the stupid machine says "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that.  Can you spell it again?"  I tried about 5 times before giving up.

Quite frankly, I don't like talking on phones. (I hear voices whenever I do)

Those are people.  You're supposed to talk back to them.

Or are these the voices that tell you to burn things...?